In May, I reported on the controversial social justice curriculum being taught to young students in Edina Public Schools—a wealthy suburban district in Minnesota considered to be among the state’s best.
At Edina’s Highlands Elementary this past year, students—even kindergartners and first-graders—were made to participate in a number of projects designed to teach them about their racial privilege and encourage them to become activists.
I had my suspicions why a school district would deem it necessary to subject kindergartners to such a curriculum, and to teach them to view the world primarily through the lens of race.
My suspicions were confirmed by Michael Seaman, a teacher and architect of the program in the district. Basically, he assumes that these young students may already be racists.
In an email to me, Mr. Seaman asked “Why do you object to teaching social justice in all classrooms?” and then wrote “I’ve linked an article for your perusal regarding the early onset of racial bias.”
Ridgewood NJ, The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI), theHumane Education Network (HEN) and the Palo Alto Humane Society officially announced today the winners of the 2017 A Voice for Animalscontest. The annual contest provides high school students aged 14-18 with the opportunity to win monetary awards for essay, video, or photography submissions advocating against animal cruelty and for prevention of animal suffering.
“We are proud to announce the winners of the 2017 A Voice for Animals contest,” said Regina Terlau, executive assistant at AWI. “Through the contest, we aim to inspire youth to raise awareness about animals in need through a creative medium. We received a lot of phenomenal submissions from students addressing mistreatment of an animal species, prevention of an animal’s extinction, or solutions to reduce animal suffering. The chosen student submissions truly embody the mission of the contest and we congratulate the students selected.”
Ridgewood teen Myriam Burger won a first place prize in the 2017 A Voice for Animals contest for her video entry, “Save a Baby, Save a Species.” Her entry, which earned her a $650 prize, describes her school fundraiser to sponsor an elephant.
The winners of the 2017 A Voice for Animals contest include:
Myriam Burger of Ridgewood, New Jersey, who won $650 for her video, “Save a Baby, Save a Species.” Her video, which describes her school fundraiser to sponsor an elephant, earned first place in the “Video” category.
Claire Wayner of Baltimore, Maryland, who won $500 for her essay, “Seeing Scarlet: Saving a Gorgeous Neotropical Migrant.” Her submission, which highlighted challenges faced by migratory birds, earned first prize in the “Climate Change” category.
Lisa Wang of Toronto, Canada, who won $500 for her video, “The Buzz About Bees.” Her submission, which brought awareness to the importance of pollinators and described her involvement with pollinator conservation, earned second prize in the “Video” category.
Naomi Chongsiriwatana of Los Angeles, California, who won $450for her essay, “When the Powerful are Crushed.” Her submission, which educates readers on the mistreatment of captive elephants and exposes the truth of Thailand’s most popular tourism activity, earned her first prize in the “Essay” category.
Olivia Banks of Nottingham, Maryland, who won $350 for her essay,“Cozy Condos for Feral Felines.” Her submission, which examines feral cat population issues and “trap, neuter and release” programs, earned her first prize in the “Essay/Photography” category.
“Every year, we are impressed and encouraged by the commitment that young people show to animal issues through their submissions,” said Jenness Hobart, chair of the board at the Humane Education Network. “We are already looking forward to next year’s entries and continuing to foster students’ interest in showing respect and caring for animals.”
Ridgewood NJ in the Best Colleges For Your Money 2017 rankings of 2,400 colleges 711 rated as the “Best Colleges For Your Money” . College is a great investment ,if you choose the right school. According to Money magazine, at $65,300, Princeton University in Princeton, NJ was rated the best value for your dollar. Interestingly enough CUNY Bernard M Baruch College came in a sold second place at about half the price and at a much lower price point with a tab of $31,400.
Ridgewood NJ, 2017 RHS Summer New Players opens this weekend! Tickets on sale now! Come enjoy Little Shop of Horrors, Baskerville-a Sherlock Holmes Mystery and later in July, The Pajama Game!!!
Senior Citizens $5.00 discount! We would love to have you join us in the lovely air conditioned Little Theatre!!
RHS New Players Company at The Little Theatre ,simply click on the below link when shopping online. After that, you will shop at your favorite online stores and New Players makes a percentage of every purchase.
Updated on July 9, 2017 at 8:14 PMPosted on July 9, 2017 at 2:37 PM
BY SARA JERDE
NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
BRIDGEWATER — A family was ordered to pay a school district more than $38,000 after it was discovered that a student was living outside of the district’s lines, the Commissioner of Education recently determined.
The parents, identified only in state documents as “M.K.,” were ordered to pay a full year’s tuition, or $38,329.20 to the Bridgewater-Raritan Regional School District.
In true Ridge tradition, every time they examine this problem, the “solution” results in one or more of the following:
– reduced parking spaces (more are needed not less)
– additional costs and/or restrictions/ordinances imposed on the parents
– a net negative impact on the surrounding neighbors
– new or increased penalties/fines Which always result in
– a worsening of the situation
Ridgewood NJ, for years the Village has looked for ways to get more traffic off West Ridgewood Ave and onto school property in a more timely fashion.
Village and School officials got together and issued the Ridge School Traffic report , in an attempt to come to grips of a long time issue of school pickup traffic blocking West Ridgewood Avenue .
Some new ordinances were proposed , a “Dont block the box between Murry and West Ridgewood ” , in addition the Village will enact title 39 on all school properties which will allow police to issue tickets for improper parking.
Also there will be a single cue going in and then it will divided by grade . A new crossing guard will also be added .
In testimony Village Engineer Christopher Rutishauser called it an “evolving process ”
Ridgewood NJ, The Jamboree Board would like to congratulate the Ridgewood High School Class of 2017, and thank all citizens and local business that gave so generously to benefit students of our town.
This year, the Jamboree Scholarship Fund rewarded a record 40 need-based scholarships to RHS seniors. This would not have been possible without all the hard work of RHS parent Jamboree volunteers. College costs have skyrocketed over the past years, and these scholarships can make a real difference to the recipients – so your contributions make a positive impact!
Please consider donating next year, and support our local businesses that support Jamboree and our incredibly talented students.
So thanks again to all our Jamboree contributors and volunteers. Congratulations RHS grads!
Jamboree Scholarship Fund, Inc, a 501(c )(3) charitable organization
Ryan Stolz, CorrespondentPublished 9:44 a.m. ET July 1, 2017 | Updated 9:44 a.m. ET July 1, 2017
In a presentation to the Board of Education Monday night, Director of Special Services Dr. Kim Turner detailed the process in which Ridgewood Public Schools tests kids for Dyslexia.
According to Turner, the testing process, and the way in which Ridgewood ensures students are being properly aided in the classroom, goes well beyond what the State of New Jersey requires by law.
I am not sure what you are arguing here? Chestnut Village and the one discussed here (KS broad street) are zoned Ridge. Dayton (down Broad) is zoned Orchard and the Enclave on Maple is zoned Sommerville. That said, the district has said it has the power to redistrict at any point.
The town has not cared about the chaos at Ridge for as long as I have lived here…done nothing about it….all of a sudden 80 new apartments is hardly going to cause anyone to care.??.
Ridgewood NJ, the Ridgewood High School graduation Kicked off at 5pm on June 21st . This year the event was live streamed . Rain early in the day cleared up .
photo courtesy of Ridgewood Emergency Services
Behind the scenes Ridgewood Emergency Services kept a watchful eye on the proceedings just in case .
Photos courtesy of Ridgewood Emergency Services
RHS Project Graduation 2017 pulled out all the stops at the after party !
Last summer, George Washington University announced that it would no longer require students to submit their SAT or ACT scores as incoming freshmen. This move was made because the university “had concerns that students who could be successful at GW felt discouraged from applying if their scores were not as strong as their high school performance.”
Some students, however, did not get off so easy. Homeschoolers, the college noted, would still have to submit their SAT scores before they could be admitted.
While such a caveat seems rather unfair, a new survey of 2014 SAT scores shows that the requirement shouldn’t be much of a hindrance to homeschool graduates.
In early June, Dr. Brian Ray of the National Home Education Research Institute released findings on how homeschool students match up against other students on the SAT exam. The results in the table below show that homeschool students are far outpacing their traditional school counterparts, particularly in the areas of reading and writing.
Friends of a 12-year-old New Jersey cheerleader who died last week believe the young student committed suicide because she was bullied online.
The Morris County Prosecutor’s office said the death of Mallory Grossman was under investigation, but did not confirm whether she suffered from a fatal, self-inflicted wound, News 4 reported.
Relatives told the news station that Mallory’s mother complained to administrators at Copeland Middle School about the alleged cyberbullying hours before her daughter died.
Students at the Rockaway school on Monday sported light blue clothing in a call to stop bullying and a tribute to their dead classmate.
The SAT remains the top college entrance exam in New Jersey, where the majority of high school students take the multiple choice test to get into college.
But a growing number of New Jersey teens are trying their luck with the ACT exam. Last year, almost a third of graduating students took the ACT in New Jersey, according to the company that oversee the test.
For the first time this year, the state Department of Education’s School Performance Reports included the mean ACT scores reported by hundreds of the state’s high schools. ACT exams are scored on a scale of 1 to 36.
Here are the 42 New Jersey high schools where students averaged a composite score of 26 or higher, according to state data for the 2015-2016 school year.
42. (tie) Voorhees High School (Hunterdon County)
ACT composite score: 26
Percentage of students taking the ACT: 25%
42. (tie) Ridgewood High School (Ridgewood Village, Bergen County)
ACT composite score: 26
Percentage of students taking the ACT: 58%
42. (tie) Northern Highlands Regional High School (Bergen County)
ACT composite score: 26
Percentage of students taking the ACT: 60%
42. (tie) Mountain Lakes High School (Morris County)
ACT composite score: 26
Percentage of students taking the ACT: 68%
42. (tie) Moorestown High School (Burlington County)
Ridgewood NJ, Ridgewood Crew sent two boats to Sarasota, Florida for the US Rowing Youth National Championship last weekend to close out a great crew season. The crews were eligible to compete against the fastest youth boats in the country because they placed in the top 3 in their Mid-Atlantic Regional qualifier at Mercer Lake in May.
Charles Koontz competed in the Men’s Varsity 1x and Sam Daspin and Spencer Campbell competed in the Men’s Lightweight 2x event. Both boats made the C Final for their fast events with Koontz coming in 4th in the C Final and the lightweight double coming in 4th as well.
Sending representatives from the team to US Rowing Youth Nationals tops off an impressive season for Ridgewood Crew. The championship racing season includes the Garden State Championship Regatta, City Championships, Mid-Atlantic Championships, Stotesbury Cup Regatta, SRAA National Championships, and the US Rowing Youth Nationals. The team qualified numerous boats into the finals and won many medals throughout the championship competitions.
Just to highlight some of the successes, Ridgewood Crew received 39 total medals at Garden State Championships, 22 medals at City Championships, 9 medals at the Mid-Atlantic Youth Championship, 4 medals at Stotesbury Cup, and 6 medals at the SRAA Nationals.
Of particular note was the Women’s Varsity 2x of Seniors Claire Callaghan and Jordan Wittmaack, who won Gold Medals at City Championships, Stotesbury Cup, and SRAA Nationals.
Ridgewood Crew is graduating 14 seniors this week. Of the 14, 8 student-athletes are planning to continue rowing as college athletes:
Claire Callaghan – University of Connecticut
Jordan Wittmaack – West Virginia University
Melissa Dexter – Univerversity of Massachusetts – Amherst
Isabella DeGregorio – Boston College
Erica Lehman – Philadelphia University
Charles Koontz – Trinity College
Patrick DuBois – Saint Joseph’s University
Ian Soderlund – Marist College
All the Ridgewood Crew seniors should be proud of what they have accomplished as rowers for Ridgewood Crew.
Next, many of the athletes will enter Summer and Fall Club Rowing for Maroon Blades Rowing Club.
Any student-athletes interested in joining the team and learning to row should visit www.ridgewoodcrew.com or email [email protected] for more information.
The annual crew banquet took place Saturday, June 17 at Park West Tavern Loft
Photos: Janice Soderland
